Year 4667 of the Unified Imperial Calendar:
Fourth Month, Day 18. (6:21 AM)
◇ Third Person POV ◇
Isabelle watched her master as he moved around preparing various gears and equipment for his upcoming 'mission'. Seeing the earnest and resolute expression on his face, her 'chest' couldn't help but ache.
Her 'Master' was telling the truth. 'He was' indeed far too foolish. 'He' had taken things for granted, and lost the one he treasured the most in the entire world.
As 'His' creation, Isabelle only wanted 'Him' to obtain happiness. That's why...
'This time, you can finally walk beside her again... Just a bit more...'
◇ Astra's POV ◇
I was almost done preparing the things I needed, and it was almost time to move out. Surprisingly, this world seems to not have any explosive materials like gunpowder. Though Isabelle said we could replicate such a material based on my descriptions, it would need a bit of time. So for now, I settled with combat wands.
Wands were mediums for magic, and combat types were wands that compressed mana and shoots it as a condensed mana bullet.
And as for mana, it seems it was different from Aether as mana was produced from it. It was still unclear on what exactly is the difference between the two, but only living things could process and refine mana.
In any case, I had wands, some tools and explosives, proper armour, and a really massive mana capacity. I just learned of it, but it seems my mana capacity was absurd. Or so Isabelle says so.
I looked towards Isabelle, and nodded. It was the signal. The signal to start the rescue mission.
Light surrounded me for an instant, and the next, I vanished.
◇ Third Person POV ◇
When Reyshia woke up, she was once again reminded of her plight. The place she was in was dark, and it was faintly illuminated by weakly glowing illumination crystals. Her hands were tightly bound, and her body had gotten a bit weaker from not eating all this time.
She was tired. Really tired. She just wanted to sleep, but she knew she couldn't. After all, a lot of people were waiting for her to come back. Back home, and back to her Warslave.
That's right. It was that idiot.
For some reason, no matter how much stupidity that idiot does, she just couldn't bear the thought of hating him. It was strange, really. They hadn't known each other for 2 weeks, yet she just couldn't help but spoil that idiot. Was it because he was an idiot? Or because he was stupid?
Or maybe...
Thinking that way, Reyshia couldn't help but smile. She noticed it herself, but she was smiling more often the past week. She who was supposed to be the one called the 'Frozen Valkyrie of the Steelrose Valley', was actually smiling. If her classmates actually saw that, she wondered what would be their reactions.
'However...how unfortunate...'
The past few weeks was fun. She admits it herself, and at the same time, she knew it was just a distraction. Yes, a distraction. Nothing more, nothing less.
She sighed. It was her cursed fate of being born as the only daughter of a noble household. She was expected to give birth to an heir, so she had to marry a fellow noble who had appropriate status.
"How truly...unfortunate..." she muttered weakly.
She had a dream, but she couldn't even try to reach out for it. Her parents were kind. Far too kind. And she, as their beloved daughter, couldn't bear to defy them of their only wish. For the Tindalerose Family to flourish.
As she wallowed in her own self-pity, she suddenly heard the door open, and she instinctively turned her head to its direction. And when she did, she saw her contracted Ark Craftmaster. It was Ashier, but he had a kind of gaze she was familiar with seeing.
It was a gaze filled with lust.
◇ Astra's POV ◇
The moment I was transferred, I found myself standing outside a tall black skyscraper. It had a futuristic feel to it, and for it felt a bit strange, to be honest. To the point where I actually doubted whether I was in a fantasy world.
In any case, I needed to hurry as I was limited in time.
I went towards the main entrance, and it opened just the moment I neared it. It seems Quanta and Isabelle are working quite fine.
I entered, and warily moved inside as I half jogged half ran, while straining my nerves and senses in order to perceive danger. I recalled the plan once more, and tried to remember the path to the server room.
'Yeah, if I remember, it was the...5th floor?...'
Well, this place was a bit tall, having 7 floors, and was as wide as about 400 meters in radius. It was quite wide, but it was expected from an Ark Workshop. I recon there should be several dozens of Arks in repair inside this place.
That aside, I continued on as I avoided the places marked as a red zone in the data I received. It was all I needed to be wary of, and somehow, this kinda made me a bit disappointed.
'No. I mustn't be complacent.' I told myself. Being to carried away was the worst I could do right now.
I then proceeded to the elevator. Up until now, I hadn't encountered any opponent, but it was probably because most of them were unmanned drones, or security AIs. There were also a lot of information that was missing from the data I received, but Isabelle said it was because it was all they could find. And to get more, the server room was absolutely necessary.
Through the elevator, I successfully made it through the 5th floor, however...
"Halt! Put your hands up and don't move!" A warning suddenly resounded from behind my back.
'Shit! I wasn't warned about this!' I complained to Isabelle.
[I apologize, Master. There was no security camera from where he came from.]
"Tch." I clicked my tongue, as I raised my hands. Even though I was armed, it was actually hidden as my current attire was no different from a civilian's. Isabelle didn't recommend wearing combat gears, but instead just wear invisible Armourskin. A magic resistant bodysuit that conceals itself by replicating the skin's colour. And as for my weapons, it was all stored in the interdimensional bracelet I was wearing, and its Aether fluctuations had been concealed.
In other words, from the guard's point of view, I was just an unknown civilian who managed to pass through, or a spy from somewhere. And since my identity was still unknown, he wouldn't instantly shoot to kill.
From my enhanced senses, I felt him approached from behind with full caution in his every step. As expected of a professional. However, I wasn't the same guy from yesterday.
The moment he was at the right distance, I suddenly ducked while I strengthened my body with magic, and took a quick step back, throwing back my elbow.
"Wha!?" It seems he was surprised, but he still managed to avoid my split second assault by stepping back too. However...
...when he put his weight on his foot, he suddenly slipped, as I had used magic to reduce inertia from area he stepped in. Hats off to Mochizuki Touya.
I spun my body as I kicked him with a roundhouse kick with all the force and weight I could muster. "Haaah!"
He tried to block with his arm but...
CRACK!
A loud crack resounded as my kick had broken his bones on his arm. He was then blown to the side, as he slammed into the cold steel wall. I then checked his condition, and it seems he passed out.
Now that was easy.
In any case, I was done here, and now to proceed to the server room.